Earlier this year, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz, once again ended his brief retirement to sign with Combat Americas. In fact, Ortiz and Campbell McLaren — CEO of the promotion – sealed the deal cageside and used the back of an unknown man to put ink to paper.
Now, Campbell has revealed to Generacion MMA that “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” will face Alberto Del Rio in his promotional debut, though a time and a place has yet-to-be determined.
Del Rio is a currently serving as an executive for Combate Americas and hasn’t competed in a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) match in over nine years, losing to Yamamoto Hanshi via second round knockout in 2010 under the Cage of Combat banner. Prior to the defeat, Del Rio was riding high with a six-fight win streak with his previous loss coming to Kazuhiro Namakura at PRIDE 27.
Overall, Alberto is 9-5 in MMA.
As for Ortiz 9 (44), his is currently riding a two-fight win streak and is coming off a first round drubbing of Chuck Liddell under the now-defunct Golden Boy MMA banner. Prior to that, Ortiz defeated Chael Sonnen via submission at Bellator 170.
In fact, Tito has gone 4-1 since taking part in his final UFC fight at UFC 148, a loss to Forrest Griffin back in 2012. While Combat Americas has made great strides in the Mexican MMA market with its homegrown talent, Ortiz is undoubtedly the biggest name on its current roster and should be able to draw even more numbers to its already-impressive ratings.